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Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Mm-mm... how refreshing it is to find a more poorly run franchise than the Yankees!

For whatever it's worth, Curtis Granderson is a jolly good fellow, which nobody can deny. Dammit, I mean that: Which NOBODY can deny! If the Grandyman ever runs for president, he has my vote. (Ooh-ooh, jumpin' jehosiphat! I just thought of something: Last night, when Curtis homered, did John Sterling sing the Grandyman song? If not, he should have.) But whenever Curtis comes to bat in a Met uniform, my privates spontaneously wriggle with glee. Imagine how depressing it would be if the Grande Canyon were still our CF? He's 36, slow as Lyme Disease, and has hit below .240 in five of the last six years - a ceiling so made of concrete that it's a wonder to still be standing.

Last year, Curtis hit 30 HRs with - gulp - only 59 RBIs. Figure that. Thirty homers and just 59 RBIs? So he homered last night against us - his 18th on a year in which he has only - wait for it - forty-eight RBIs. And here's a shocker: Last night, when he hit is, there was nobody on base. 

Same with Humanis Centepedes, their hitting version of Aroldis Chapman. Last night, Cespedes homered - 15th on the season - driving in his 37th run. Thirty seven. Guess what: A solo shot.

It was as if we were playing ourselves, but an older, weaker, dimmer copy.

In the comic book The Flash, his arch-villain is the Reverse Flash - a bad guy who found the Flash's full-body leotards and dyed the colors backwards. That's always been how I view the Mets... the Reverse Yanks. It's not that they're evil - actually, we're the evil team - but they provide a fun house reflection of ourselves. Last night, with Grandy as DH, they appeared as our time warp, astral duplicate from 2013. For a while, they matched us with solo home runs, until we out-soloed them - Judge, Hicks and Sanchez - driving in, gulp, three runs. 

Listen: I'm not complaining about the HRs - which were more than the rest of the team accomplished. (Hey, Gardy, maybe next weekend, the back of your jersey should say "1 for 5.") And I'm not officially mocking the Mets: They could sweep the next three and win the little coveted 2017 Subway Series. Anything is possible, especially with El Chapo inscribed into marble as our closer. Still, it's nice to play a New York-based team, which means that - regardless of the sport - everyone - be it Carmelo, Odell, Tim Tebow or whomever - is always swinging for the fences, because in Gotham, that's what brings the moolah, bread, scratch, schmegira, spawgioleego... the distilled liquid demigreeb! 

So last night we beat a team with Curtis Granderson leading off. Batting fifth was the famed slugger Wilmer Flores. Entering the night, the team was 12 games behind in the NL Wild Card race. In other words, we played the single-most important reason why the '17 Yankees have owned the NY tabloid back pages. There was no competition. If anyone is unhappy with Yankee management, all they need do was hold their noses and look in the direction of Queens. It's been a reverse year for the Reverse Flashers. But if we compare ourselves to them, remember: It's a false read in a cracked mirror. They're us, just a bad version. And if we don't sweep this thing, shame shame shame...

12 comments:

Parson Tom said...

"30 HRs with - gulp - only 59 RBIs" from Granderson last year? Those are Oscar Gamble in Cleveland numbers: 22HRs and 44 RBI the year before we picked him up. Nice!

The Ghost of Yankees Past said...

Sweep? I will be happy with three out of four.

Parson Tom said...

and if Gardner manages to go 1 for 5 in every game, he will be starting a hot streak.

JM said...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnists/bob-klapisch/2017/08/14/klapisch/563766001/#

"Girardi doesn’t plan on making a change however – he’s sticking with Chapman and said so forcefully after the game. The manager is smart enough to know Chapman is a liability right now and that his ninth-inning failures have a corrosive effect on a team’s confidence. But Girardi also wants to avoid lighting Chapman's short fuse by demoting him to eighth-inning duty."

We have to figure out a way to get rid of Chapman. If he's sucking and won't take a seat without having a temper tantrum, we don't need him.

KD said...

The proud, volatile Posada could be humiliated but the proud, volatile Chapman can't?

Guess Posada wasn't packing heat.

C'mon guys. We can't expect Joey Binders to risk his life for the Yankees, can we?

The Ghost of Yankees Past said...

While Chapman's recent woes concern me, I have no problem with Joe's decision to stick with him as the closer for now. He can lose a game in the eight inning as well as the ninth, so why move him there? Joe is correct in giving him more time to work out his issues. If he doesn't regain his form soon then make a change. But athletes go through times were their game is off and need time to readjust. The fact is, as deep as the bullpen is, it is much better with Chapman playing well and closing . He is worth giving more time to. He may or may not regain his stuff, but is worth the time.

Leinstery said...

John didn't sing the Grandyman can, but after describing the homerun he declared "as you know, the grandyman can."

Parson Tom said...

even if Chapman was still blowing every batter away with heat and an unhittable slider or curve or whatever, the Yankees -- and probably all baseball teams -- would be better served to have a flexible bullpen. Bring in the right guy for the situation -- like Terry Francona did last fall -- instead of the assigned guy for the predetermined inning.

This is the big frustration with Girardi. He seems to be most comfortable with routine, and he sticks to the plan come hell or high water and he doesn't have the flexibility to deviate when the dam is about to break. Billy Martin was never my favorite human being or Yankee manager, but he was capable of strategic thinking and improvisation, as opposed to how Torre and Girardi manage from a script they put together before the game. If you have a bullpen with as much horsepower as the Yankees', why create a hierarchy? Some competitive tension seems smart to me.

As it is now, it looks like Chad Green is first in line for the Scott Proctor plan for career ruination, and the rest of the guys will pitch only when circumstances precisely match Joe's predetermined conditions. Oy!

ranger_lp said...

@Tom....yes Chad Green will win the race for the first reliever to be completely overused this season. Every year it's some other Yankee that wins this trophy.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Gee, Brett Gardner is going south in the second half? Wow, that's...completely predictable.

Here are Brett's career splits:

First Half: 424 R 667 H 106 2B 30 3B 58 HR 248 RBI 140 SB .276 BA .357/.417/.774

Second Half: 248 R 391 H 70 2B 22 3B 24 HR 143 RBI 93 SB .241 BA .330/.356/.686

Now granted, a lot of the quantity stats speak to the fact that he's played over 200 fewer second-half games. But that's largely because of all the time he's spent on the DL, which speaks to the same point.

Brett Gardner has rarely possessed the durability to remain effective and on the field for a whole season. He really has always been more of a fourth outfielder type, more like a lower-grade Tommy Henrich, or part of the old White-Piniella platoon.

Nothing wrong with that. Those guys were critical to winning Yankees teams, just as Gardner has often been a key contributor.

But it's the tried and disastrously untrue Cashman mode of operating to pretend that you have, say, Rickey Henderson, when what you've really got is Roy White with a much better arm.

KD said...

I'm with Tom. I don't think I believe in closers anymore. Use your best relief pitcher in the highest leverage situations. Chapman should not be used in such situations now. Give him low leverage situations until he can prove himself worthy. I could care less what inning it is. Let him "close" when we have a 6 run advantage going into the 9th.

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